West Prairie honored for second-place finish

It's been an unprecedented amount of success in just under two years for the current group of eight grade boys at West Prairie Junior High.

On Tuesday night, the group was honored for their latest achievement, finishing second in the Eight Grade Class 2A basketball state tournament last weekend.

SCOTT HOLLAND

It’s been an unprecedented amount of success in just under two years for the current group of eight grade boys at West Prairie Junior High.

On Tuesday night, the group was honored for their latest achievement, finishing second in the Eight Grade Class 2A basketball state tournament last weekend.

“It was a great experience and felt like a great accomplishment for us,” West Prairie’s Luke Shirey said. “It was a great experience, not very many people experience this, it’s something unique.”

It was the second-straight season the same group advanced to state, but unlike last year when the squad lost their first game, this season would be different as the team would win the quarterfinal and semifinal games.

“We played last year so we had a lot of experience,” Blaine Root said. “We got to watch the team in front of us play, so we knew what to expect in the second game.”

While the team was pretty much the same group that went 24-1 last season, there was still much work to be done to get back to the state finals.

“We had to go through a bunch of stuff over the summer, practicing in the hot gyms to get going again,” Root said.

“We had tournaments almost every weekend and we’d have open gyms to go over things too,” Bailey Sullivan said. “Last year we did not play our best (at state), so this year we used it as motivation to go farther.”

But to get to state, the squad had to overcome a regular season hiccup.

While a loss to Brown County derailed any hopes of a perfect regular season, West Prairie was able to use the setback as a motivator to get back to work.

“After we lost to Brown County, we came back to practice and everyone was more focused after that,” Braxton Dunn said. “I realized we can go a lot farther with all the hard work we put in.”

Once at state, West Prairie was able to clear the hurdle that saw the season end a year ago, topping Effingham St. Anthony 44-26 in the quarterfinal game.

“It was great we won that first game,” Shirey said. “Then we wanted to keep it going.”

Later that same afternoon, West Prairie topped Peoria St. Vincent de Paul 50-39 in the semifinals to advance to the title game. In the semis, West Prairie was able to get out to a 12-5 lead after a quarter, then pull away from St. Vincent de Paul thanks to a 20-12 fourth-quarter advantage.

“They wanted it, we wanted it, they tried to take it from us, but we tried hard,” Root said.

“We wanted it more than them and we got to playing a lot better at the end,” Sullivan said.

In the title game, West Prairie would see its season come to an end with an overall record of 24-2, falling to Madison 38-30.

The Cyclones trailed 32-17 after three quarters but battled back to make the game close. And with the season over, the group turns its attention to track and field, a sport they won a state title in last spring.

“It’s pretty fun to get to state in two sports in the same year,” Root said.

And while track is next, the group is also focused on the basketball court and bringing their success to the high school level.

“Since we’re going to high school and there’s no regionals, we want to try to get up and play varsity,” Root said.

But before high school and before track and field season, the group was honored Tuesday night in Colchester for their latest accomplishment.

“It shows a lot of people support us and believe in us being able to do something like this,” Sullivan said.

And even further down the road, the group will look back at the past two seasons with positive memories.

“I think I’ll remember this forever,” Dunn said. “I love playing with these teams and playing with them every game. I think it’s been a lot of fun the last few years.”

Reach Scott Holland via email at sholland@McDonoughVoice.com and follow him on Twitter @hottscolland81.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.

Communities

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
The McDonough County Voice ~ 26 W. Side Square, Macomb, IL 61455 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service